Speaking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Romans chapter 16,
and just three words in verse 20. The whole verse reads, and the God
of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen. And the word on my
spirit are these three words, under your feet. I've been very mindful in coming
here this afternoon that under your feet as you have come into
the house of God is a new floor, and not wooden boards as was
last year, There's a concrete floor being redone, replaced,
and every time you walk here, under your feet, is a new floor. And this applies also to the
friends at Owikington. They had very similar, the whole
floor taken up and redone, and they need to think as well that
under their feet is a different floor than what was before. It's strengthened, it's strong,
it is a benefit and blessing to the house of God. Now there are many ways that
we need to really consider what is under our feet. We read of
Moses when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush. And he forbade him to draw near,
he said, put off the shoes from off thy feet, the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground. And it's good for us then to
think, what ground do we stand on? Is it holy ground? That was made holy ground by
the Lord's presence and by the Lord's blessing to be in that
place. Jacob, when he left home and
he had the stones for his pillow, And that ground, in that place,
when the Lord visited him, he said, this is the gate of heaven,
this is none other than the house of God. And it was because the
Lord had met him there. And so it is thinking of the
chapel here, the replacing of the floor, thinking also that
it is a consecrated building. And we might think, well, that
is taken for granted, but it's not today. There are many, many
places of worship that they use those places for all sorts of
things. Our Church of England at Cranbrook
is used for choirs, for bands, for plays, for all sorts of things. And it's a blessed thing when
we come into the house of God and we feel this is consecrated
This is for the sole use of the worship of Almighty God. When we come into His courts,
we're coming into the courts of the house of God. Yes, the
building itself is just a building. The church is the people. But
when the Lord's blessing is in the place, when His candlestick
is there, that is a great blessing to know and to feel that, and
sometimes we can feel it before we ever speak to anyone, when
we come into the house of God, we can know that it is the house
of God. So it is a place where God meets,
He met with Moses, and may this be a blessed place where God
meets with his people and we expect that that be so. That
the Lord will speak to us through the ministry that He'd bless
the Word to us, that He'd accept of our worship and of our praise,
that the promise that He said, that where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst. The context is
indeed in a disciplinary situation, but it's a statement of fact.
Where there are those gathered in the Lord's name, the Lord
is there. Unto Him shall the gathering
of the people be. And may we often feel that, a
desire above everything else, that we have the Lord's presence,
that His feet, His feet shall stand in our midst. You think of the floor, if you
like, of that upper roof, when the disciples were meeting there
and the Lord came and He stood in the midst. His blessed feet. those feet that were torn by
iron, those feet that walked this earth, that trod this earth,
that came into the temple, that came into the places where men
went. We think of when that second
temple was built and the old men, they wept because it was
so much smaller than the original one that they remembered. Those
who were younger, they rejoiced. They saw the same thing, but
those that had remembrance, they mourned. But the prophet encouraged
them, and he said, the glory of this latter house shall be
greater than the former. And the reason was that the Lord
Jesus himself should walk in that house. His feet should go
where sinners' feet have trod, and he should walk amongst the
children. of men. And that is a wonderful
thing to consider and to realize. Dear friends, we are to take
care where our feet go. Remember it was said once to
Elijah, and though it was in a place where God had bid him
to go, but the Lord said to him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And we should think where our
feet lead us, where they take us. The Apostle Paul speaks of
when the blessing of the Lord is upon a sinner they yield their
members instead of servants to unrighteousness and uncleanness
and to honour and to glory. And that those feet that once
took us to places of sin or took us where the Lord was not to
be expected now take us to the house of God. and place us in
the house of God. It's a blessed thing where we
can honestly say the grace that the Lord has given us has affected
where our feet take us. That we willingly will go where
the Lord is and not go away from Him. So that where we end up
standing, where we are found, is a place where we may expect
the Lord's blessing. and look for the blessing of
the Lord. I want to look this afternoon at
four ways we are to consider what is under our feet. I want
to base each one of them on a scripture, placing it in scripture, and
may it be a blessing to us. I want to begin with the text
itself. We read again the context, where
our text is. And the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you, Amen. In this book, the Apostle has
very methodically gone through doctrine, very important doctrine. And then at the end here, suddenly
there is people, it's not just doctrine, it's not just teaching,
it is applying to people, to men, to women, to those that
love the Lord, that serve the Lord. And so suddenly in this
last chapter we get a lot of names. And we always remember
this, that doctrine, it applies to people, it is how they walk
it out, how they live it. And I often think this, we can
have two brethren that are dear brethren in the Lord, and you
may compare doctrine as where articles of faith and you compare
them without knowing the people, And you might think, well, if
someone believes that, or if they follow that, they can't
be the Lords. But when you know that person,
and you see how they apply and live out that doctrine, what
it actually means to them, Then you view them in a very different
way. There are many, many churches
that you'll see over there that they hold the 39 Articles Church
of England or the 1689 Confession. Remember William Tip Taff, he
preached right through the 39 Articles Church of England and
he was completely spoken against, ridiculed in his day. because
the church wasn't actually holding to the doctrines that they said
they believed, not that all of them are correct. But, we can
just compare those doctrines, or say that we have, and hold
to them, and yet our lives, and how we put that into practice,
be completely different. And we might think, oh, we could
go to that church, and we could get on very well, but if you
went, you find you didn't. And so it's very important that
there is doctrine, but that it is applied to the people, and
the people actually walk it out and live it out, and it's as
it is interpreted through them. But in the Church of God, Satan,
he knows where the people of God are. He knows, he doesn't
need to waste his energy on the world and those round about,
it is within. And so Jude, he warns about those
that shall come in from within to undermine the church. And here is Paul again warning
in the same way. And he's saying from verse 17,
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions
and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
and avoid them. Remember, this is coming from
all of the doctrines that are in Romans, which is a real foundation
of the doctrines of grace, justification by faith in Christ alone. Martin Luther, in Romans 1.17,
that was what opened his eyes to the errors of the Church of
Rome and brought him to see it was not by works, that was my
faith in Christ alone. And so the Apostle warns of those
that shall actually come in and he then says in our text, the
God of Peter, Bruce, Satan under your feet shortly. Satan comes
through them. If Satan could come through Peter,
remember Peter he had said to The Lord, that when the Lord
said, who say he that I am, thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God, blessed art thou Simon by Jonah, flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And then the Lord started to tell of his sufferings and his
death and his crucifixion. And Peter takes him and rebukes
him and says, be not that unto thee, this shall not be unto
thee, And the Lord turned and rebuked Satan. He said, Get thee
behind me, Satan. Thou savest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter was saying that
Satan can come in through brethren, can come in through men, but
especially for those who are not careful about doctrine, who,
as in verse 18, that they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but
their own belly, that by good works, words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the sinful. We must expect there would be
not a church of which at some time in its history that they
are threatened with error. They are threatened with those
that need to be disciplined or dealt with, otherwise the whole
church will suffer. In the letters to the churches
in Aichel, we find two of those churches are reproved. One because
they had members that held error, and another because they not
only held error, but they were teaching error, and the church
wasn't dealing with that. Now, I'm in no way bringing this
word, thinking that there's error amongst you, or pointing it in
that way at all. All I need to know is that you
are a church of Christ, and Satan will try in every way he can
to undermine, to unsettle, to come in between brethren. But
when that happens, and may we remember this in whatever church
the church is represented here, this promise, the God of Peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. In other words,
at the moment, he's not under your feet. At the moment, he
seems to be gaining advantage. At the moment, he's agitating
and seems to be in control. But Paul says, no, shortly, he
shall be under your feet. Maybe remember the very first
promise And it was done by the Lord speaking to Satan, the seed
of the woman. It shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. And at Calvary, our Lord Jesus
Christ, he was bruised, he was wounded, he was afflicted, he
suffered. But in doing so, he put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He overcame Satan. He destroyed
the works of the devil. He atoned for his people's sin.
He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. May we remember that
and all what Satan tries to do now to annoy the people of God,
to unsettle them. We have these beautiful promises,
the Lord who cares for his church, who watches over his church,
soon those that seem to be in ascendancy or have great power,
they shall be put under our feet shortly. So it's a promise concerning
the adversaries of the Church of God. Now remember that? You come into the house of God
and you tread on your new floor and under your feet you think
this is a promise God has given when we have adversaries come,
He will put them under our feet shortly. The second thing that we are
to consider as to what is under our feet is our standing upon
the rock Christ Jesus. Moses in Exodus 33, the children
of Israel had sinned, they had made the golden calf, the Lord
said he wouldn't dwell amongst them, he'd send an angel to go
with them. Moses had made intercession for
them and the Lord had blessed them with still his presence
and Moses said, except thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. But he desired that he might
see the glory of the Lord. And the Lord said that he was
not to see his front parts, but his back parts. He said, there
is a rock beside me. I will put thee upon the rock. Your feet will stand upon this
rock. I'll make a cleft in the rock.
I'll hide thee in the cleft of the rock. You think of what Paul
says, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ. Earlier on when the water was
given, it was given through the smitten rock. But that smitten
rock is to be that of which the people place their feet upon,
that which they build their hopes for heaven upon. The foundation
of their hopes is the rock Christ Jesus. So blessed be when the
Lord by His grace and mercy places our feet firmly upon Christ. upon Christ is the emry to the
solid rock, I stand, all else is sinking sand. Remember our
Lord told the parable and it was to illustrate the difference
between those that hear and don't do and those that hear and are
doers of the world is those that build their house upon a rock,
they stand upon a rock. or those that build on the sand
and it's washed away. May our feet be standing on the
Lord Jesus Christ, upon the true doctrines of grace, upon the
foundations laid through like this epistle. These things are
where a church must stand, in its articles, in its trustees,
in its, how it preaches, It sets forth a people to place them
upon Christ, to stand there, that their feet be there. Our standing upon the Rock Christ
Jesus. May that also be then a question
we ask ourselves as we come into the house of God and under our
feet is the floor here that we think in a spiritual way, what
is under our feet? Is it Christ? Are we upon the
rock Christ Jesus? You know one thing I noticed
as soon as I came in here, the floor had a different feel. A
concrete floor with the carpet on has a different feel to that
of timber. You know the timber has a a slight
flex in it, you sense that. But the concrete you're done
is solid, you get the feel that you are upon equivalent to a
rock. And maybe think of that concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. That'd be a piercing question
for us. Where are our feet? Where are we standing? The third thing to consider is
blessings that are couched beneath our feet, where God has put us
in providence. In the blessings in Deuteronomy,
before the children of Israel came into the promised land,
God gave to them promises He gave them to know where their
lot should be in the promised land and described that to them. And we have the blessing of Asher
in Deuteronomy 33 and verse 24. And of Asher he said that Asher
be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren
and let him dip his foot in oil Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,
and as Thy days, so shall Thy strength be. There is none like
unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in Thy
help, and in His excellency on the sky. The Eternal God is Thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. and he shall
thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy
them. Now in the middle of that blessing,
yet thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days, so shall
thy strength be. In the margin it is, or under
thy shoes. And we think of the deep that
counteth beneath, We think of the minerals that are in the
ground, that are mine. We think of where there is gold
in the ground, or the metals, or whatever it is. Many things
are mine. Many things are hidden. They
are not right up to view. We can't see them straight away,
but they are underneath. And really what the Lord was
saying to Asher, Asher, when you come into the land, when
I appoint you a piece of land, you might look at this and you
might despise it. You might think, why am I here? Why have I been given this part
of land? And the Lord was saying, under
your feet. Where I have placed your feet
to be, there will be the blessings. And I believe there's a real
principle here. Every one of the Lord's people
here, not a lot of places of ground in Canaan, but you and
I in God's providence, we're brought to places. Those of you
that worship here in God's providence, the Lord has brought you here,
your feet are here, and where you live, and where your lot
is cast. And can we think of this, that
the Lord will bring his people into a place and say, there are
no blessings for you here. I will not visit you here. There's nothing that will work
for good here. There's nothing that is hidden
that is going to be shown up as to be a real blessing here.
The Lord won't do that. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are called
according to His purpose. And we need to remember it wherever
that we are born. I remember years ago, I'm thinking
of Bethesda and the collection here today for Bethesda. And
years ago in Harpenden, there's a dear lady that came in for
a short time. Because she wasn't at all happy,
not at all happy. And I tried to speak to her about
the blessings of being there. She was going to be under Mr.
Answorten's ministry. She said, I don't like him, she
said. He came to one of our hundredth anniversaries and said he'd never
come to another one again. I said, but no he won't, because
he won't be alive in another hundred years' time. But nothing
what I could say, and the dear residents, they were saying,
please, please speak to her, she's so unhappy, she's pulling
the whole tent of the home down. And nothing I could say was that
in God's providence you are here, make the most of it, there will
be blessings here, the ministry you're here, the company you
have with those in Bethesda, these things will really be a
blessing and help to you. And dear friends, if we are like
that, if we get into a thought, Well, we're in this place, there's
nothing good here. And we're not happy, and we cast
a cloud on everyone around us. Just think, where the Lord places
our feet, like He did ashes, there will be those blessings
under our feet. There will be those things, maybe
not on the surface at first, but the Lord will make it a blessing.
And maybe look for them. and not be hardened and think
the Lord can never bless me here, he can never help me here, he
can never make me happy here. No, the Lord can do all things
and especially where he has chosen to place the feet of his people
we can be sure there is room for the blessings of Asher here
that under thy shoes Under thy shoes there shall be iron, there
shall be brass. But even the promise itself as
it stands, thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days,
so shall thy strength be. A blessed thing, isn't it? We
know that our strength physically, it gets weaker, though our outward
man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day. And that's
a blessed thing to be strengthened through the word of the Lord.
though our body is being taken down, our spirit is strong, we're
encouraged, we're strengthened in the Lord our God. And so these
promises and these thoughts where the Lord leads his people, you
think of David, what was under his feet when he went to various
places, when he was in the cave, when he was on the way up and
being cursed by Shimeon, let him curse. The Lord has ridden
them. Who can tell that he will recompense
his cursing this day? You think of Ziklag, what would
happen? The whole city was burnt with
fire. David, under your feet here,
he's got coals, it's all burnt. What shall happen here? They
talked of stoning him, but he encouraged himself in the Lord
his God, and by and by he recovered all. and great treasure as well,
and he sent all these gifts into all parts of Israel. See these
are the trophies, the benefits, the blessings of the Lord. This
came out of the ashes of Sikla, yes it did. He had the wonderful
providences of finding the Egyptian in the field that was sick, led
them to the enemy. We had those times, we might
come there first. And you think under our feet
is but ashes, there's nothing encouraging here. But then what
the Lord does there, it turns out a real blessing and a help.
What I do thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter. The
Lord doesn't reveal everything at once, but he gives these promises
and assurances that he will be with his dear people. I want
to then think in the fourth place of the Church's commission. The Lord has given a commission
to the Church of God. In the Gospel according to Matthew,
at the end of it, the Lord gives the commission to his servants,
to the Gaui therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you, and lo, I am with you all way even unto the end of the
world." Well, when the Lord sent forth His disciples earlier on,
we read in Matthew 6 and Sorry, I've got that reference
wrong. The Lord sent out his disciples
and where they were not received, then they were to shake off the
dust from off the soles of their feet. In the days of Babel, When
they built the tower, they didn't want to spread out around the
earth, so the Lord confounded their languages so they would
spread out and replenish the earth. When it comes to Pentecost,
the Lord has done the other way. He's given the gifts of understanding
of languages and of the gift of languages so that the gospel
is to be sent forth into every nation, kindred and tongue, all
languages and all peoples. But how then is the Lord to ensure
that the word does spread? It's not going to be because
of confounded languages anymore, but the Lord says how it is going
to be is when the word isn't received in one place. If they
persecute you in one city, then flee unto the next. and where
the word was not received, to shake off the dust from off their
feet and to go on to another place. And the Lord used that
way with the apostles in a very clear, distinct way to guide
them where the word was to be, where they should stay. Now you
might say, is not that rather a negative way and what about
our chapels which some 146 years here, 244 at Cranbrook and the
chapel is still there but isn't that an encouragement where the
Lord does not remove the candlestick where we still feel in the pulpit
the liberty where those that are hearing still feed under
that word and still receive the word then there's not a case
of moving our feet somewhere else and shaking the dust off
our feet because the Lord's presence is there. So whereas it seemed
to be in a negative thing, these people didn't receive and so
they had to move on, where the word is received and where the
spirit remains, my spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. then
it's a real encouragement. This is the place where the Lord
would have us to be. Many times I've wandered over
these things at Cranbrook, I've been mindful, the former pastors
in the town of George Road, they had four pastorates, and somehow
they felt their work was done in one place, they needed to
move to another place, and they did. And I thought, when we get
low, is it right then, should we move? But while the Spirit
is there, and while we feel liberty and help in the preaching, and
the friends are being fed and encouraged, then we must stay. And so, I've been, well it's
my 28th year, 27 years at Cranbrook, and we look for the Lord's blessing. We look at where the Lord has
placed our feet, and the Lord will bless that work. where it's
helped you and encouraged you for another year and helped you
to get the building and get it more nice and up to standard,
that the Lord would be pleased to come and bless His Word and
favour you with His felt presence here and it'd be a real encouragement. And so in the commission of the
Lord to go forth, it's a blessed thing to be Still, even in these
last days, under that commission, still doing our Master's bidding,
not our bidding, His bidding, His work, His labour. We are
but servants. He chooses where we go, not us.
And He chooses how you're blessed, not us. And it's a better thing
then to think that where our feet are placed is where the
Lord would have them to be placed. so that we don't choose to go
another way, and then the Lord says, what doest thou hear? I
put thee there, what doest thou hear? It's a lesser thing to
feel. Our feet are where the Lord would
have us to be. And so when we have the words
of our text under your feet, I hope with having the work done
here, that there'll be a reminder as you come in and think under
your feet of these points concerning Satan and all his temptations,
all his adversaries, and how he may come in, may seem to triumph
for a little while, but under your feet shortly. And the place
where the Lord would have his people to stand upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Apostle says, I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And those blessings couched underneath,
wherever we are born, in Bethesda, in Pilgrim Home, in a hospital
ward, in our own homes, in one place here or in another place,
where the Lord has brought us. to know and expect His presence
and His blessing, maybe hidden underneath, not in full view
first, but to prove His blessing there. And then to have the church's
commission and still to be in it, still to be in the place
where the Lord would have us to be, whether a preacher or
whether a hearer, whether we are a minister or a deacon, or
an elder or a member of the congregation, may it be that we abide where
the Lord's people are and where the Lord would have us to be.
Go not, says Boaz, to Ruth, into another field, but stay here
fast by my maintenance. May the Lord bless this word
under your feet.